Questions About Couponing In Canada

The following question was sent from a resident of Canada. I know that I have some Canadian readers out there, so I’m hoping that you will all help this coupon newbie out by answering some of his questions. I myself have no idea how coupons work in Canada, so I’d totally appreciate learning about this topic too. Thanks in advance to all readers who take the time to shed some light on this subject!

“Hi there, first, thanks for your blog, it seems like a balanced approach to something that could appeal to unbalanced personalities. My wife and I did happen to catch the TLC special and as someone who has almost completed my PhD in Clinical Psychology I was worried that it was simply another hoarding type show. Although there were aspects of that (which you touched on in your post), by the end my wife and I were sold on the idea.

We already have a large garden to feed our family of five and we can and store food wherever possible. Unfortunately we live in Canada and I’m not sure if this type of couponing would work here. I looked into the aspects of crossing the border with that much food and I think we’d be fine in that respect as I believe you only pay duty on what you spend rather than the actual value of the goods. Plus we live close to the border so spending a day cross border shopping to save a few hundred dollars on food every once in a while seems like a good idea.Anyway, essentially I’m wondering if you have any information on attempting to do this from Canada. Ordering coupons would be fine since we don’t have access to US fliers etc. but I think the tough part would be staying aware of when things go on sale in store etc. Anyway, any help you may be able to provide would be great. Thanks so much for all your help.”

A few questions of my own include; do Canadian stores double coupons, what forums do Canadian couponers use, and what are some of the chains Canadians shop at for the best deals??

Some of the best deals can be found at Shoppers Drug Mart. They have a rewards program called Optimum points, and if you shop smart you can accumulate a lot of points for free purchases. I’ve heard London Drugs is great, but is only located in Western Canada. I believe they are the only retailer that doubles coupons. Loblaws group of grocery stores can be great – when items are on clearance or nearing expiry dates they put these fantastic pink stickers on them that reduce the cost by up to 75%. I once filled my freezer with enough veggie ground round to feed my household for a year. (We’re vegetarians).

I have not had the pleasure of a double coupon here in Canada 🙁 I shop at Safeway mostly because I collect AIRMILES. I will not be traveling anywhere, but I can redeem my AIRMILES for gift cards. an example is 400 airmiles for a $50 gift certificate that is good at zellers or the Bay. safeway offers 1 airmile for every $20 you spend. sometime there will be specials like spend $100 and earn 100 airmiles, or buy this product and earn 20 airmiles. some of the sites that I have linked up from this site will not allow me to order coupons because I am in Canada. But I do keep searching and I am now on the emailing list for many coupon site. Yes, there is a lot of spam, and junk that I have to wade thru, but if I can save a couple of my hard earned dollers I am happy. Here in Edmonton, ALberta the first tuesday of the month is know fondly as “cheap tuesday”. all grocery stores offer 10 percent off of your grocery order of $35 or more. Like the coupon goddess sugested, use your coupons when the item you need is on sale. More value for your money. hope this helpsTheresa in Alberta

There are ZERO stores that double coupons.I visit redflagdeals.ca and frugalshopper.caI get the best deals at Zellers, Walmart and Shoppers Drug MartI get my coupons from save.ca, brandsaver.ca, gocoupons.ca, websaver.ca, tearpads in stores and from writing to manufacturers directly.

There is on more blog that has not been listed savingmoneyinwinnipeg -There is also lots of facebook coupons and http://www.smartcanucks.ca. is great for listing for listing them. The biggest thing is the coupon has to have a canadian address listed to be able to use it. Another idea is to email brand names that you like and ask for coupons – I’m big into Organic so i emailed Amy’s Organic and they sent me great coupons.

Your Canadian reader indicated that she lived near a border and crosses to go shopping. I live near the border in Washington- figure out what the zip code(postal code) is for the area that you shop in (In the US)and go to the grocery store website, use the store locator for the one you visit in the US and check their specials.

OMG! ever since I watched TLC’s Extreme Couponing last week I have been on the search for tips and trick to using coupons. And in my search I came along a blog that is doing an Extreme Couponing Series, so far they have about 5 blog posts in the series, I thought I’d share the link with you guys so we can all work together to save each other some real cash! … here’s the link: http://canadianfreestuff.com/category/coupons/

Some things I haven’t seen in here is that you can price match at Canadian Tire. You have to take the stores fliers with you and they will give you 10% in funny money. Now when you do a price match you can’t use a coupon so do the math but usually the 10% is better and then you can use your printer coupons on your other purchases that you can’t price match and add the funny money to those purchases. It works and saves alot. you can also use printer coupons at Walmart, Zellars

I love Airmiles too! I use them for GC’s and for the movies at Galaxie, for 175 points you can get a pass for 2 admissions and 2 reg. drinks and a reg. popcorn! It’s a night out free! (well plus a sitter)

You CAN double coupons on some special sale days at Pharmasave. I get a lot of my coupons from the online sites, free samples, tear pads in stores and also from the newspaper inserts. Getting a large collection is going to allow you to save more while shopping.

I live in Western Canada, and Save On Foods and London Drugs stack coupons (let you use multiple coupons on one item so long as the UPC’s are different) but from what I understand no other stores do. London Drugs will also price match in addition to stacking coupons so you can end up with free or nearly free items. I have heard rumours recently that some retailers are looking into the idea of doubling coupons (where it is worth twice the face value) but that is only rumours so far as I know, although there is no Pharmasave close to me. Facebook pages are a great way to get coupons, free items and samples. Walmart will also give overages on coupons, so if your coupon is worth more than the item, they will give you CASH back or you can put the difference towards other items. I use my Save om Foods points I earn for every purchase and returning packaging and bottles to “buy” things for points. That is how we got our bug zapper and the only way we can afford to go to the movies.I follow Mrs January & Smart Canuck the most, on both facebook and twitter. They will even tell you what are good deals, where coupons can be found and which coupons to use to get the item free or cheap. Mrs January even has YouTube videos to teach you.Hope this helps!

I worked as a Christmas cashier at Walmart this year and people may not stack coupons, but this one woman combined coupons and a price match and walked out with a $20 gift card. The CSM hated doing it, but I thought more power to her. 😉

just thought i would add that London drugs use to stack coupons but i just read a notice on their site that states they no longer stack due to certain people abusing this and re-selling products 🙁 Apparently some people were ordering pallets worth of goods!